FILM REVIEW; As a Comrade, He Could Have Been A Contender

When the Italian director Gillo Pontecorvo filmed his starkly beautiful morality tale ''The Wide Blue Road'' in 1957, what remained of neo-realism, born 15 years earlier, was in the process of acquiring a grander, more operatic tinge in keeping with Italy's growing prosperity. The emergence of the Italian art cinema and of Antonioni and Fellini as world-class filmmakers was still two or three years away. It would be nine years before Mr. Pontecorvo, a dedicated Communist like so many European intellectuals in the 1950's, achieved international renown with ''The Battle of Algiers,'' an intensely political film steeped in 1960's liberationist ideology.

You can feel these cultural sea changes tugging at one another through ''The Wide Blue Road,'' a political movie that, partly through the powerful lead performance of its star, the relatively young Yves Montand, transcends its own politics. In its portrait of a humble fishing village, the movie reverently looks back to the early films of Rossellini. But at the same time, the movie, which is having its belated American premiere today at the Film Forum in a handsomely restored color print, has a high scenic gloss aesthetically at odds with neo-realist austerity. As stirringly heartfelt as it is, Mr. Montand's portrayal of a proud renegade fisherman who breaks the law to make a better life for his family is a star performance radiant with macho glamour.

In its bare-bones outline, ''The Wide Blue Road'' is a period allegory that pits selfish capitalist ingenuity against idealistic Communist collectivism. The only way Mr. Montand's character, Squarciò, can have a slightly better life than his fellow fishermen in the village is by cheating. Where the other men make their living by net fishing, Squarciò achieves his larger catches by setting off underwater dynamite charges that kill or stun dozens of fish in a single blast, then raking in the bounty. Accompanying him on his daily expeditions are his two young sons, Bore (Ronaldino Bonacchi) and Tonino (Giancarlo Soblone).

Far from feeling guilty about his illegal activities, Squarciò takes pride in a method that involves considerable risk from an accidental detonation. And the other fishermen tolerate and (even grudgingly admire) Squarciò's daring. Because he respects their territory by setting off his charges on the open sea instead of the coastal inlets where they cast their nets, they don't resent him.

For years the coast guard police have suspected Squarciò of breaking the law but they have been unable to catch him at it. By the time a coast guard boat can reach Squarciò, he has had time to dump his explosives overboard. But all that changes with the ascension of a new, hard-nosed coast guard commander with a faster boat. When Squarciò impulsively goes into debt to purchase a new motor for his boat so he can outrun the police, his world begins to fall apart. The turning point comes when he is forced to sink his own boat with the new motor to avoid arrest.

As his livelihood crumbles, Squarciò resorts to increasingly desperate measures that eventually alienate his fellow fishermen and make his adoring sons ashamed. ''The Wide Blue Sea'' builds to a conclusion that is melodramatic but that Mr. Montand's understated performance prevents from becoming too corny.

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Squarciò's increasing isolation is contrasted with the peaceful organization of the other fishermen into a collective that will bypass the greedy wholesaler who has been gouging them. As emotionally sympathetic as the movie is to Squarciò's plight, its political heart is firmly on the side of the collective that Squarciò refuses to join.

The movie's portrayal of Squarciò's family life is a fascinating study of a household in which the paterfamilias rules like a god and is not to be contradicted. A subplot follows the secret (and ultimately tragic) courtship of his beautiful 16-year-old daughter, Diana (Federica Ranchi), by a young fisherman. The film's domestic scenes are a bit stiff compared with its outdoor sequences. Alida Valli, who plays Squarciò's wife, Rosetta, appears too glamorous for the role. Montand himself has a lapse of credibility in a scene that shows him awkwardly dog-paddling in the water (the star couldn't swim).

''The Wide Blue Road'' is infused with a conviction and idealism that can't be faked. Without turning mawkish, it passionately (if naïvely) believes in the dignity and decency of common man, the ability of organized labor to overcome capitalist exploitation, and the devotion that binds working families and the communities in which they live.

THE WIDE BLUE ROAD

Directed by Gillo Pontecorvo; written (in Italian with English subtitles) by Franco Solinas, Ennio De Concini and Mr. Pontecorvo, based on the novel ''Squarciò'' by Mr. Solinas; director of photography, Mario Montuori; edited by Eraldo Da Roma; music by Carlo Franci; production designer, Tone Hoian; produced by Maleno Malenotti; released by Milestone Films. At the Film Forum, 209 West Houston Street, west of Sixth Avenue, South Village. Running time: 99 minutes. This film is not rated.